The # 1 Kid’s Vitamin Brand in the United States includes ingredients that most moms and dads would never ever deliberately expose their kids to, so why aren’t more selecting healthier options?
Kids vitamins are expected to be healthy, right? Well then, exactly what’s happening with Flintstones Vitamins, which proudly asserts to be “Pediatricians’ # 1 Choice”? Produced by the international pharmaceutical corporation Bayer, this extremely effective brand features a shocking list of unhealthy ingredients, consisting of:
Aspartame
Cupric Oxide
Coal tar food additive representatives (FD&C Blue # 2, Red # 40, Yellow # 6).
Zinc Oxide.
Sorbitol.
Ferrous Fumarate.
Hydrogenated Oil (Soybean).
GMO Corn starch.
On Bayer Health Science’s Flintstones item page created for health care specialists they lead into the product description with the following tidbit of details:.
82 % of kids aren’t consuming all of their veggies1. Without sufficient vegetables, kids may not be getting all the nutrients they require.
References: 1. Lorson BA, Melgar-Quinonez HR, Taylor CA. Correlates of vegetables and fruit intakes in US youngsters. J Am Diet Assoc. 2009; 109(3):474 -478.
Implication?
The implication? That Flintstones vitamins somehow fill this dietary void. But let’s look a little closer at a few of these most likely healthy components …
ASPARTAME
Aspartame is a synthetic combination of the amino acids aspartic acid and l-phenylalanine, and is known to convert into highly toxic methanol and formaldehyde in the body. Aspartame has actually been linked to over 40 adverse health impacts in the biomedical literature, and has actually been shown to exhibit both neurotoxicity and carcinogenicity [1] What business does a chemical like this have performing in a kids’s vitamin, especially when non-toxic, non-synthetic non-nutritive sweeteners like stevia already exist?
CUPRIC OXIDE
Next, let’s look closer at Cupric Oxide, 2mg of which is consisted of in each serving of Flinstone’s Complete chewable vitamins as a most likely ‘dietary’ source of ‘copper,’ providing “100 % of the Daily Value (Ages 4+), according to Flintstones Vitamins Web website’s Nutritional Info. [2]
However what is Cupric Oxide? A nutrient or a chemical?
According to the European Union’s Dangerous Substance Directive, among the main EU laws worrying chemical safety, Cupric Oxide is noted as a Hazardous element, categorized as both “Harmful (XN)” and “Dangerous for the environment” (N). Consider that it has industrial applications as a pigment in ceramics, and as a chemical in the production of rayon fabric and dry cell batteries. In may be technically right to call it a mineral, but should it be noted as a nutrient in a children’s vitamin? We think not.
top-pharma-brand-of-childrens-vitamins-contains-aspartame-gmos-other-hazardous-chemicals2.
COAL TAR ARTIFICIAL COLORING AGENTS
A popular adverse effects of utilizing artificial dyes is attention-deficit hyperactivity condition. For direct access to study abstracts on this topic view our Food Coloring research page. There is likewise indication that the neurotoxicity of synthetic food coloring representatives enhance when combined with aspartame, [3] making the combination of components in Flintstones even more concerning.
ZINC OXIDE
Each serving of Flinstones Complete Chewable vitamins contain 12 mg of zinc oxide, which the maker claims provides 75 % of the Daily Value to kids 2 & 3 years of age. Widely made use of as a sun security factor (SPF) in sun blocks, The EU’s Dangerous Substance Directive categorizes it as an environmental Hazard, “Dangerous for the environment (N).” How it can be unsafe to the environment, but not for humans consuming it, leaves me. A single thing is for sure, if one is to ingest additional zinc, or market it for use by children, it makes much more sense using a kind that is naturally bound (i.e. ‘chelated’) to an amino acid like glycine, as it will be more bioavailable and less harmful.
SORBITOL
Sorbitol is a synthetic sugar alternative which is categorized as a sugar alcohol. It can be said that it has no location in the human diet plan, much less in a youngster’s. The ingestion of higher amounts have been connected to gastrointestinal disruptions from abdominal discomfort to more severe conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome. [4]
FERROUS FUMARATE
The one clear warning on the Flinstone’s Web website concerns this chemical. While it is impossible to pass away from consuming iron from food, e.g. spinach, ferrous fumarate is an industrial mineral and not found in nature as food. In fact, ferrous fumarate is so poisonous that unintentional overdose of products including this form is “a leading cause of fatal poisoning in kids under 6.” The maker further alerts:.
Keep this item out of reach of youngsters. In case of unintended overdose, call a physician or toxin control center immediately.
HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL
Discovering hydrogenated oil in anything marketed to kids is absolutely unacceptable. These semi-synthetic fatty acids include into our tissues and have been connected to over a dozen negative health impacts, from coronary artery illness to cancer, violent habits to fatty liver disease. [5]
GMO CORN STARCH
While it can be said that the quantity of GMO corn starch in this item is minimal, even unimportant, we disagree. It is necessary to hold accountable brand names that refuse to label their items honestly, particularly when they include ingredients that have been produced through genetic engineering. The ‘vitamin C’ listed as ascorbic acid in Flintstones is most likely likewise produced from GMO corn. Let’s keep in mind that Bayer’s Ag-biotech department, Bayer CropScience, poured $381,600 of cashinto beating the proposal 37 GMO labeling costs in California. Moms and dads have a right to secure their youngsters against the widely known dangers of genetically customized foods and the agrichemicals that contaminate them, do not they? GMO corn starch is GMO, plain and easy. We ‘d value it if Bayer would identify their “vitamins” appropriately.
In summary, Bayer’s Flintstone’s vitamin brand is far from a natural item, and the customer should be aware of the unintentional, negative health effects that might happen as a result of using it.
References
1] GreenMedInfo.com, Adverse Health Effects of Aspartame
[2] FlinstonesVitamins.com, FLINSTONES Complete Chewable, Nutritional Info Overview
[3] Karen Lau, W Graham McLean, Dominic P Williams, C Vyvyan Howard. Synergistic interactions between commonly used food additives in a developmental neurotoxicity test. Toxicol Sci. 2006 Mar;90(1):178-87. Epub 2005 Dec 13. PMID: 16352620
[4] GreenMedInfo.com, Sorbitol’s Adverse Health Effects
[5] GreenMedInfo.com, Health Effects of Hydrogenated Oil
Credits: Written by Sayer Ji of www.greenmedinfo.com, guest